644 



Madame de Staefs Ten Years' Exile. 



the Second ; and of Shah Tliamas, or 

 Tamasp, as it is .sometimes writtnn. 

 The two other pictures are battle- 

 pieces. Every one of these different 

 subjects are pourtrayed -n-ifli the most 

 scrupulous exactness, as far as the still 

 life could be copied. The golden vases, 

 and other vessels in the banquetting- 

 scencs, with the musical instruments, 

 and every detail in the dresses of the 

 persons present, are painted with an 

 almost Flemish precision. Wine (the 

 peculiar bane of the Sefi race) appears 

 the great vehicle of enjoj'ment at these 

 feasts ; an air of carouse being in all 

 the figures, and the goblets disposed 

 with the most anacreontic profusion. 

 The guests are also entertained with a 

 variety of dancing-girls, whose atti- 

 tude and costumes sufficiently show 

 the second vice of the times, and ex- 

 plain the countries whence they come. 

 The warlike pictures are defined with 

 equal nicety ; the tr.ippiugs of the 

 horses, the arms of the heroes, and 

 even to the blood-red wounds of the 

 combatants. One of the battles repre- 

 sents the troops of the valiant Shah 

 Tamasp the First (the son of Shah Is- 

 mail, the beginner of fli<; Sefi dynasty) 

 engaging the troops of the Sultan Soli- 

 man. The Persian king is depicted in 

 the act of cleaving a grim Janissary 

 ' from head to saddle-bow;' and the 

 weapon having nearly reached the last 

 point of its aim, the artist has marked 

 its dreadful journey down the body 

 of the man, with a long red streak, 

 following the royal blade. But, never- 

 theless, tne indivisible Turk continued 

 to sit bolt upright, firm in his stirrups, 

 and as life-like in visage, as the most 

 conquering hero in the piece. 



Ridiculous as the execution of these 

 pictures may be in some respects, they 

 are invaluable as leg-isters of the man- 

 ners of the times, of the general aspect 

 of the persons they are designed to com- 

 memorate, and of the costumes of the 

 several nations assembled at the feasts, 

 or engaged in the battles. Large tur- 

 bans, full miistachios, and smooth- 

 shaven chins, were then the fashion in 

 Persia ; which has now given place to 

 the high, narrow, black cap of sheep- 

 skin, and the long bushy beard : the 

 latter appendage having been a costume 

 of the empire many centuries before. 



The sixth large picture is of more 

 modern date, and a very sorry speci- 

 men of the art indeed. 



TEN YEARS' EXILE; 



OR, 



MEMOIRS 



OF THAT 



Interesting Period of the Life 



OP THE 



BARONESS DE STAEL HOLSTEIN, 



WRITTEN BY HERSELF, 



DURING TAB 



Years 1810, 1811, 1812, and 1813, 



And now first pnblislied from the original 

 Manuscript, 



BY HER SON. 



Octavo, 12s. 



[This production consists of fragments of 

 Memoirs, which M. de Stael had intend- 

 ed to complete at her leisure, and which 

 would probably have undergone alter- 

 ations, if a louger life had been allowed 

 her to revise and finish them. The narra- 

 tive begins in 1800, two years previous to 

 her first exile, and stops at 1804, after the 

 death of M. Necker. It recommences 

 in 1810, and breaks ofT abruptly at 

 her arrival in Sweden, in the autumn 

 of 1812. Many of the circumstances, 

 tlvough trifling, are too curious to be 

 neglected, at the same time M. de Stael 

 was an intriguing politician and wrote 

 as a partizau with womanish feeling.] 



CAUSES OF BONAPARTE'S ANIMOSITY 

 AGAINST ME. 



The Emperor Napoleon, whose clia- 

 racter exhibits itself entire in every 

 action of his life, has persecuted me 

 with a minute anxiety, M'ith an ever- 

 increasing activity, with an inflexible 

 rudeness; and my connections with 

 liim contributed to make liim known 

 to me, long before Europe had dis- 

 covered the key of the enigma. 



Shorthly after the 18th Bnimaire, 

 Bonaparte had heard that I had been 

 speaking strongly in my own parties, 

 against that dawning oppression, whose 

 progress I foresaw as clearly as if the 

 future had been revealed to me. Joseph 

 Bonaparte, whose understanding and 

 conversation I liked.veiy much, came 

 to see me, and told mc, " My brother 

 complains of you. Why, said he to 

 me yesterday, why does not Madame 

 de Statfl attach herself to my govern- 

 ment ? what is it she wants ? the pay- 

 ment of the deposit of her father ? I 

 will give oiflers for it : a residence in 

 Paris ? I will allow it her. In short, 



what 



